Thomas goulston ghislin



T NT OFFICE! r'n'onAs eouns'rou euismt, orv nosnost, ENGLAND;

in-rRovE-nm m TREATING MARiN'E-ALGIE T0 0mm A MAYER-ML FOR VENEER-m8,- ntLAYms n. I

Specificationforming part of Letters Patent No. 40,631 9, dated Noyeniber 17, 1863.

To all whom it may concern.- Be it known that I, Tuontas GoULsroN GHISLIN, of London, England, have invented certain methods of preparing and treating algae aud'otlier marine plants or vegetable substances, and 'of applying the'produ'cts thereby obtained-- to "arious useful and ornamental purposes; and I do hereby declare that the followingspecification is a full and exact description of the same.

The object of this invention is thetrea-tment' of alga and other marine vegetable substances, and in particularof those known the Eclclom'a lbuccinalis, Laminariu buccz'ymlis,

Dnrillemut-His, iS'arcophg cns, Iotafrz'um, and

other plants included under thegeueric title of luminaries.

I apply or propose to apply the abovenamed substances to the following uses, viz:

veneering, coating, niountiz'ig, and inlaying on wood, metal, glass, p'apier-mach, or anyother material to the manufacture of handles for outlery, surgical instruments, and, tools, whips, umbrellas, parasols, walking sticks, pipes, tubes, acoustioand musical instruments, boxes,

- picture and other frames, medallions, bOOiicovers, bijonterie and imitative objects of ornameiit and ear-tn, and a variety of other articles useful and ornamental.

In preparing the raw material for the purposes of my invention I cut oil or remove, all

- extraneous matters, and then immerse-the sub stance in'a bot lye of caustic lime for aboutthree hours, and on removing it from thelitne steep it in a bath of sulphuric acid diluted with about fifty times its weight of water. The substance may then be removed I'IOIILUIQ Lucid and placed in a solution of common soda,

. -afterwhicli any nincilage or dirt that may ad here externally to the; plant should be brushed away,- After washing it fora time in pure water the prepared substance may be red moved-to the drying-roon'i, and when hall. dry

itcan be shaped into any form desired. By

l opening out the tubular plant. and laying itflat to dry under pressnreit will be converted into sheets; 'or the plant, after being trimmed,

' maybe steeped in a solutionof American pot- "tlsh, then in diluted nitric acid, and afterward. 1n 'spirits of naphtha, and when w 'll brushed out in the naphthait should be left to dry.'-'

After the substance has been prepared in the manner above described itvmay be softened or rendered in-sotne degree plastic by 3 means of steam, and when in the softened state it can be molded into any desired shape;

or the material may be steeped. for about an hour and a. half in a hot solution of common soda and applied, 'whil'e hot, to prepared forms or molds, w here itshonld be left to dry; or while in the molds it may he steeped for about three hours in a solution of nitrate of lead,aud. then left to dry. The prepared substance then ;-the whole or any portion of it, as may berequiretL. When thus shaped itshould be remo'vedfrom the die'press and hardened by steeping for about an honrina hot solution of nitrate oflead, and in some cases I. afterward- .steep it in a hot solution of common alum or in sulphate of alumina.

Another mode consists; in steeping the rna-- te-rial (after-carefully trimming and cleaning it) in a warn: and very dilute solution of sulphuric acid, and-after this I steep it for abode three hours in a-solntion of corrosive sublimate,or in nitrate of lead, orin a hot solution of alum; or, if desired, two orlmore of these hardening solutions may be used in succession. In this state [also stamp, press, or

-pierce it, .if required. It may then be left to dry, and subsequently steeped in a-solution composed of spirits-of wine, methylated spirit, or pyro'xilic spirit, twenty parts; linseed-oil, twenty parts; resin, gum-thirst, or asphaltum, twenty parts; turpentine, ten parts; shellac, five parts; sandarac, five parts; I then eitherpress it fiat or remove it to the dr'yingroom',

and when dry it is to be softened-by steam, and

then laid under pressure between sheets of warm iron, glass, or other material, taking.

care to protect the grain byblankets, flannel,- or felt. It should then be-stainped out with steel cutters or be left-till quite dry and hard, I after which it may be cut up'and treated as. ordinary horn, and converted into scales for knife-handles and cutlery purposes.

In the case of like marinevegctable produc tions as are not capable of beingpreparedby y I the methods already described-,- and also in or.- der to utilize the waste pieces thatresult from cuttiu g the prepared in aterial into the-rel ui red H form, the material isreduced to a gelatinous mass, and used in this state fo'r plastic purposes. T0 eifeet this object it is out into small;

pieces, and then boiled, eithcr in anopen vessel oriu a close vessel, under"pressure,in plain water or water rendered alkaline; until the substance is. rendered quitegelatinous. The soperfluous liquid is then to' be drained oil", and

, the mass i'shardened by running it through a solution of nitrateof lead.

terinl maybe steamed until reduced to a soft: state, and-then submitted to the action of a press in wooden or other-molds or dies" I Another method. of operating on the substance consists in reducing it to fine powder by grinding, and mixing the powder with a strongsolutiou of glue containing alum and powdered rosin,and then amalgam atethe whole till it arrives at the consistence-of putty, or mix iugthepulrerized substance'with coal-tarorasolution of bitumen or asp-haltuin in any suitable 1 solvent. The mass may then be rolled out and I submitted to pressure-in molds or dies, as may be desired. The articles, when made oi a mixture of coal tar or asphaltum, should be sub= mitted to a baking process att'rom 300? to 500- of temperature. in order to harden them.

Another method which I .use is to dissolve" gutta-percha and indie-rubber with a' solution ot coal-tar iu a'large quantity of 'spirit,-aiid then, adding this thin solution to the former,

v '7 with the addition of black sulphur, 1- bake thewhole in not-more than 300 of heat,'und afterward press ormold it, while but. in any required form. The latter compositions, when molded, have the appearance of carved wood,

and'when dry should be brushed over with oil. and polished by friction. V I have given them 'the name of laminite, while the other product, u'hieh'is made without rendering the material plastic, Icall laminirian born.

1 also extract. the coloring-matter from the substance, and to give it an appearuuce liko ivory by submitting it tothe action, first, of a .warm solution of caustic lime; s.e'condly,of sulphurousacid; thi1 'dly,ot' chlorideof lime; and, fou'rthly, (if required,) of chlorine dissolved in water or in the form of gas. The bleaching operation may be repeated u-utila pure white, is obtained, after which picric acid, mauve,

' magenta, and other dyes may be applied and various colors stance; v

a (more Sometimes the inn-.

thereby imparted to the sub= in iinimting horn, theezterual surface of the natural protuberancesfof the substance should be rubbed off by means ofra sps,scratch-brushes, emery-paper, or other applianees,.and a varvanic deposits. As to the strength of the acid solutions and other Cllllllt'lill agents used in the above. process,-"I gexierally'use dilute solutions contain. 1 ing froin two to live percent. 0t acid, and I continue the stopping for about six hours if the solutions-- are used cold and from twotothree hours when used hot. No general rule-, however,can be observed uponthese points, as the proportions must always dependon the age,' strength, and condition of the substances op crate-d on. Ida-not therefore confine-myself to any precise proportions or to auygiven time for the duration of the variousoperations.-

H aving now described my invention of oer v: tain t-ncthods oi. preparing and treating algge and other marine plants or vegetable substances-,and of applying the products-thereby obtained to various uset-nl andornamental p,ur- 3 poses-such as those for which horn, 'shell, whalcbone, i-n' l nrated leather, fish-skin, ivory,

bone, bard woods, metals,- compounds of in din-rubber or gut-ta-pe rcha,and other sub stances have been employed-I claim as my invention- The preparation of marine plants, above are: ferred to,and of otheranalogous vegetable productions, anda-l's'o the application of the productsthereby obtained by the methods herein above described and, to the purposes herein above named, or by any similar methods, for

any analogous purposes.

" in testimony that the-foregoing is a-eorrcct descripiion'ol" my said invention 1 have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence oi two witnesses.

- WVitnesses:

l li-F.LanunaLE, (l. W. Yarn.

To produce a var iegated brown, sodesirable 

